My mind is a garden

I’ve been suffering a severe bout of writer’s block for some time now, so I’ve taken out my frustration on the garden. I’ve cleared out decades of weeds, prepared the ground, planted seeds, pulled out more weeds and watered my babies into existence (then pulled out more weeds – they sprout everywhere!)

This has got me thinking (which can be a good or bad thing), that gardening is a lot like writing.

There are mountains of weeds in my mind that need clearing out. I guess weeds are something and a good sign that the fields of my mind aren’t barren. But there’s been no control over the growth. I’ve let things in and allowed them to grow without weeding them out. Instead of focusing on plants of substance I’ve been focusing on the negative things that creep in and grow so big that only a tractor can pull them out by the roots. Yeah okay, that sounds painful…

When we write we need to focus on the plants of substance and get rid of the weeds. We can clear the ground and plant the seeds, but we can’t expect them to grow without water and care (and pulling more weeds that sprout around them). Anyone can think of a story, but preparing it and spending the time to nurture it into existence is an art.

I see the farmers in this area out there every day on their tractors. They seem to work dawn till dusk seven days a week. They’re relentless because they have to be – after all, it’s their livelihood. They see me working in my garden every day. They give me a wave and tell me I work too hard. I give them a wave and tell them they work too hard. It’s like Groundhog Day, but sometimes you need that when you’re clearing the crap from the garden of your mind.

I gather the leftover mud and old sugar cane leaves from the fields and put them in my garden. I guess in that sense I’m harvesting what is discarded to add nutrients to the soil. When I write, I use experiences and emotions in the same way to add layers and sustenance to my stories.

Growth has its seasons and after all the work I’ve done on the RUC and in the garden I feel like I’m just coming into Spring.

All of the above is just a quick snapshot of my messy mind (sorry, I couldn’t take a photo).

Below are photos of how the real garden is progressing.

The corn seems to be growing well. I’m staggering the planting so that it doesn’t all fruit at once. I’ve put wire over the ground to stop the bandicoots from digging it up.

For your viewing pleasure, a close-up of the corn

The seriously sick avocado tree that was in a pot for 12 months has now burst to life with new leaves and flowers

I saved the old green cement laundry tub from being trashed and I planted cucumber in it. On the right is the old boiler that I dragged into the garden to use for zucchini plants. I just love recycling!

My passion fruit vines are growing like Jack and the Beanstalk and I found this beauty the other day

So true, Jennifer. I’m always amazed that the arrangement of letters lead to so many words and end up being an entire story that can change lives. I’ve got a lot of story ‘seeds’ in my mind, it’s just a matter of bringing them to fruition! 😀

All that time in the garden will probably help your writing. It’s amazing what our brain processes when it’s focused on something else. It’s like a steady undercurrent of thought, and occasionally useful tidbits surface. Just keep a notebook handy so you can jot them down while you’re playing in the dirt. 🙂

LOL – I love playing in the dirt and always have (I guess it’s the tomboy coming out in me). It’s amazing how boring repetitive actions can get the mind working in overdrive. After I drafted this post I wrote the first five pages of a new story 😀

I think a good mind is like a good garden. Full of manure. LOL kidding!! I thought your analogy was very good. Plus like Carrie stated, nothing like doing something else to let ideas grow in your mind. It looks like you did put a whole lot of work in the garden. I admire your energy Dianne! Can you send me some?? xxx

Manure is the key, Jackie! LOL. Sometimes the birds fly over and crap on the garden and weeds grow there – there’s an entire analogy I could write on that one! haaaaa!
Sending you a load of energy right now 😉 xxxxxx

Someone once said that a garden is an ongoing work of art and that fits in quite well with your post! I always think of that when I garden, that I am creating (or destroying, haha) something, trying to shape nature, but it’s constantly in motion. I’m sure that during all your gardening, your subconscious is working away at something. Hopefully it will share it with your conscious self soon 😉

I’ve seen some magnificent gardens that truly are ‘works of art’, Letizia! It’s amazing when we take the elements of nature and make them into something positive and satisfying. I’m knocking on that subconscious door and asking it to share it’s secrets, hopefully it’ll open soon 😀

What a lovely mini-essay, on gardening and writing. I”ve met this metaphor before, and it strikes me that in your rendering of it there is nothing to regret. Your energy shows in very creative ways in the lovely photos, and the essay itself is poetic and engaging memoir. What writer’s block?

Your garden is lovely, Dianne! You certainly have a green thumb. I love your analogy. Many things we do with our hands whether it’s gardening, cooking or knitting relax the mind and allows the writing juices to flow. For me, it’s working jigsaw puzzles…I’m not big on cooking. 🙂

I was going to write a post on cooking, Jill, and show the latest pictures of the ‘flat’ muffins I made (LOL). My cooking leaves a lot to be desired. I’m also a puzzle person and love hearing the different cogs of my mind tick over when I dive into a a new puzzle – I guess gardening is like solving a puzzle as well, everything has to fit for the picture to emerge 😉

Ha ha! Perhaps we’re related, Dianne. 🙂 I’ve been thinking about writing a post about my first attempt to cook a Thanksgiving turkey…that was ten years ago and I’ve never tried again.
I love puzzles, in fact, my nickname by some is puzzle girl. 🙂

Great garden. And sometimes getting away from writing is like a vacation for the mind. You can come back refreshed and then write like gangbusters for a while. I haven’t written anything, other than blog posts and comments and facebook posts, in over a year. NaNoWriMo is fast approaching, and I’m trying to decide if my vacation from writing was long enough or too long for me to get back into it. November 1st will tell.

I’ve been much the same way, minus the garden since we are in the middle of our Autumn season. I do fully agree with the weeds sprouting and growing in my mind, even at this time of year for me. I hope my writing garden will, one day, be as bountiful as yours. Your ideas are bound to blossom soon, my friend. 🙂

The G.O. will testify that I’m the Queen of Analogy and find it almost impossible to relate something without an associated story…
I love your recycle gardening containers… note to self, borrow this idea!… and also the mesh barrier as we have a resident bandicoot and giant old cranky possum and I hadn’t considered their place in my vege garden plans.
I find if my attempts at mental creativity are met with a bounceback message the best thing to do is get my hands busy working or legs busy walking… it seems to release ideas if only via Murphy’s Law of resultant inconvenience of trying to record same while otherwise engaged 🙂

The mesh on the ground has worked brilliantly for the bandicoots – they don’t eat the corn, they just like to dig under it to eat the grubs and this undermines the roots. I would come out in the morning and they would all have fallen over! Now they can’t get under it. We don’t have possums here, but when we used to live further south we did and I’d spray chili around the plants and they didn’t like that at all 😀
The old cement tubs are beautiful and it’s really handy to grow thing ‘off the ground’.
Like you, I also keep my hands busy and get my legs walking. There’s something about that physical activity that gets the blood pumping to the brain! xxxx

So true, Alta. Getting into the garden is very good for the soul and a great connection to the earth. I sometimes think of kids who live in the city and their feet have never touched anything other than cement. I think that would really drive me crazy. I must be a nature baby! 😀

I’ve been avoiding my WIP for about six months. I’m still writing, but every time I think it’s time to return to my fiction, I find another non-fic to take up a few weeks. I have to finish this book, finish its sequel (which is already almost done) and move on.

Wonderful analogy Dianne 🙂 I think we are very much alike. I tend to want to get my hands dirty and I do have a passion for pulling out weeds 😀 very cathartic. What works best for me though is walking – clears away cobwebs and mental blocks. Bandicoots? had to look them up.

Walking is great, Yolanda. I push myself to take the dogs for a long walk to the creek every afternoon (rain, hail, or shine). That clears away anything that has troubled me through the day. Bandicoots are really cute little creatures, but they love digging in the garden more than I do! 😀

Yes you have worked hard and the garden is coming on beautifully. I love to see the plants, which I cannot grow in my climate, growing and thriving. Now I’m going to read that review. It will be interesting I’m sure, since I’ve just completed the book myself. I loved it.

I think I need a little hard labour in your garden Dianne to see if I can clear a few weeds from my overgrown mind too.
If you mind is now like your garden you must have plenty of new growth in there and very few weeds.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx

I’m envious of your garden – but not of your Bandicoots (had to go look them up.) I’m not a very analogous (is that even a word) person – particularly as it pertains to photography. I see, I shoot. My canvas is never blank. Yikes – I think I just compared it to artistry. Ansel Adams was clearly a little more creative. “Some photographers take reality…and impose the domination of their own thought and spirit. Others come before reality more tenderly and a photograph to them is an instrument of love and revelation.”

Dianne I hope the garden produce is bountiful and your writing comes back to you in a moment of unexpected day dreams. Your garden looks awesome. Wolf Pear is a fantastic read and I know there will be plenty more.

Thanks so much, Kath. I thought of Wolf Pear when I wrote this post (but there’s no body in my garden! lol)

I felt my writing passion emerge when I wrote this post and then I wrote a few pages of a new story. My mind feels like I’m pulling that string on the lawn mower trying to get it to kick in and zoom off 😉

Glad to read that your time in the garden has unblocked the writer’s block. Does the new story line involve bandicoots, recycled containers and tidy rows of vegetables, by any chance? Great review for Wolf Pear. I have had to stop reading Let Sleeping Gods Lie for a bit. Why? Because I am afraid of how it will end!!!!!! LOL, what a wimp am I.

Oh dear! Who knows what will happen in Let Sleeping Gods Lie 😉 If you don’t like the ending I can always write a new one for you xxx

I think my new story should involve bandicoots, recycled containers and tidy rows of vegetables – although the way my mind works, there would have to be something inherently sinister or mysterious about the entire thing 😀

Dianne – what a wonderful post – and when i garden I usually get at least one analogy of this or that – and well, it looks like you got awhile bunch from this time in the garden – so nice.
also, I felt inspired when you wrote about the “sick avocado tree” bursting with new life.

oh, and one little tidbit – just something to think about with recycling certain things – you want to watch for heavy metal contaminants. I only say this because I have learned a lot about health and environment this year – and well, everyone knows about microbes and fungi and I also learned that gardeners sometimes can be exposed to certain agrobacterium – but that is not why I wanted to leave a comment.
It was when i saw that boiler holding plants – it may be fine, but be very careful because not all metals are food grade – and actually, some of the ones we though were food grade are still leaking deposits – and it is not just aluminum – but copper pipes – sheep stainless steel – etc. – and sometimes metal objects that were built so long ago may just not be ideal for growing food.
just something to think about

well I kinda think that the cement tubs and other things from way back when are probably better than some of the plastics of today – because not all plastics are created equal and well… cement feels okay to me – hm – and your pic reminds me of the soap stone sink we used to have in the cellar of our Denver home.
have a great weekend 🙂

Dianne, for 25 years I was a bi-vocational pastor … and one of the lessons I learned early on was that you can’t be a fountain to others if you don’t mind the water in your well. Sometimes the brain needs nourishment if it’s going to have something to share — even when that something is fiction.
Use the time well. Water yourself, not just your garden. You’ve been doing enough weeding…. 🙂

You’re welcome my friend. The simple idea that there has to be something INSIDE before you can share it OUTSIDE is perhaps too simple for many modern day thinkers. I see too many people spouting off about all sorts of stuff they know nothing about. But AUTHENTICITY is always evident. Perhaps your brain just needs to catch up with the rest of you so that your words can have the gravitas they deserve. Cheers, Peter

I think of writing analogies sometimes, too! The garden is a great one. Your work in the garden will probably yield healthy plants AND sort out your writing too. It seems counterintuitive, but sometimes a little distraction is just what we need. Hope the garden and writing flourish 🙂

I was just reading somewhere yesterday that the reason artists get blocked is because they require a period of dormancy, like in nature, to replenish and regenerate. A tree was given as an example, with the fact that a tree doesn’t bear fruit continuous. It’s fitting that you’re working in a garden at this time. Enjoy it.

That’s a fantastic analogy, Janna. I guess if we constantly bore fruit we’d be completely drained after a while. I’ve gone through a dormant time and hopefully all that energy has built up like a big spring and will soon unleash! 😀

I like this comparison, although it doesn’t exactly work for me since I don’t really garden. I find writing to be a bit like drawing, though. A blank page and a blank canvas are both inviting and frightening. It is easy to turn away, but they keep calling all the same.

You certainly have a capacity for hard, manual work Diane. I get blisters and a sore back just contemplating the prospect. Strange as my Dad was a hard-as-nails factory worker. You must get a deep satisfaction over this aspect of your creativity? As for the writing, well if you never wrote another word you have a wonderful legacy.

Love to see how your garden is growing Dianne, you will reap the rewards of your frustration when the crops bear fruit and I’m sure you will also unblock that block very soon…I find gardening is so therapeutic and I must admit when I garden my mind is on the garden around me. Maybe that is why I can’t write a book….

Dude, I love how you used the tub and boiler as planters. So awesome! Great comparison. I don’t have a garden but I take out my aggression on my apartment whenever I need to clear out my mind.

I really enjoy cleaning. Since I was a kid, it has been a meditative thing for me. I remember when we lived in Dallas, everybody—even people our age back then in their 20’s—had housekeepers come in weekly. I said…hell no! I’m not paying for someone to take that away from me AND be all up in my business. 🙂

So beautiful. We have a garden too, and it brings me such joy when things sprout. Part of that is because we’re terrible gardeners and having things sprout is a rarity. Regardless, I share your pleasure!

I’m still a novice with gardening so I’m always in awe of things actually working! And you’re right about the joy when seeing things sprout – it’s amazing how something so natural and simple can bring so much pleasure xxxx

Such an effective metaphor for the mind. Weeding and gardening is therapeutic. I’m sorry that I cannot offer any tips on ridding the writing mind of weeds – I’ve been writing the same novel for 4 years and I still haven’t moved past the plotline, haha.

Well said. We root around in our brains looking for the right words, weeding out the bad ideas, and harvesting great stories — at least if we have fertilized appropriately. All that gardening will pay off.

I like the comparison, and I think in a lot of cases, writing takes a hell of a lot of weeding before anything of worth starts sprouting. I have a feeling that is what happened with my first novel and one of the big reasons I took so damn long with it. Congrats on your unsurprisingly amazing review!

I think the analogy between gardening and writing is a good one. So many ideas can flit through our brains, but we need to learn to recognize which ones are good (the plants we want to nurture and raise) and which ones aren’t (the weeds). And that process continues as we write and edit. The weeds (poorly defined characters, meandering plot lines, etc.) are always ready to take root and smother the real story if we let them.

I also love the way you’re reusing old items from around the farm for your current garden!

I am surprised that strapping husband of yours did not jump in and clear it for you. He should take care of your sensitive writing hands. Hard labor is very therapeutic, unless you have to do it for a living, then it becomes an incentive to find alternate ways to make a living.

It’s a great analogy. I wish I weren’t so unable to do other things when I’m writing. Gardening, scrapbooking, etc. all the out the window in the past couple of years. Sigh.I tried to find a contact for you through twitter, FB, or here. If you get a chance, email me at writersite.wordpress[at]gmail[dot]com!

I love your garden, and I love the comparison you’ve drawn. The act of actual gardening, I find, can help clear out some of those mental weeds…though I guess it doesn’t necessarily help with the actual writing! Such a wonderful sense of space you would have up there on the property 🙂

I think it’s a very apt and effective analogy (and yes, I compare things all the time!), and I love the pictures of your garden:-) The corn looks fabulous…and I did chuckle at the mutual morning exchange of ‘you work too hard’. For sure it’s important to give focus and energy and nourishment to what you want to grow, and deny those things to what you don’t want to grow. I had a quick peek at the garden in my own mind while reading this – eek! Talk about weeds! But there is one plant growing healthy and strong, in spite of the weeds. Not sure what it will end up looking like, but it’s throwing up strong healthy shoots:-) Blessings, H xxx

I’m in the process of trying to catch-up on a few favourite blogs and of course, Dianne, you are on the list. Love your analogy about gardening and writing and the similarities when it comes to pulling out the weeds. Remember though, the old saying about weeds – sometimes they get so entangled with the good stuff that to pull up those weeds means endangering the tiny, growing plants. Proceed with caution is all I have to say. Love your sprouting garden when we are busy here putting everything to bed for the winter.

Janna T. sent me here and I am glad. Love this blog post and some others I read while perusing it. I am not religious at present but once when I was this very metaphor was used for ones spiritual life. The garden being your spiritual self.

You must be in Australia due to the curious use of names I’m not familiar with, ie: Bandycoots. You have done a fantastic job of getting your garden ready for spring. It is fall here in Northern Virginia in USA. It is going down to thirty degrees Farinhiet tonight and all the leaves are off the trees.

Taking your analogy of writing being like gardening, I think your fingers are the bees, they bounce around the keys, cross pollinating each other and bringing new words to you. The good thing about writing as opposed to weeding is that it is a lot quicker and easier on the back.

I love the parallel you are making and i also believe that writing is very much like gardening… Judging by the the progress your garden is making, we are to expect yet another masterpiece from you – and soon!

Okay, this is (potentially) weird, even for me, and I write horror. But reading this, I immediately thought of something from the Bible. One of the parables Jesus told:

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

It seems to me that the weeds and the crops (in this case, the good fiction stuff) have to grow together. They’re damn near inseparable. (See how I cursed to make up for quoting the Bible at you?) Often, I don’t know what’s a weed and what’s fit to eat until I see both on the page. As a writer, my harvesting is the editing process. The first draft is just wild sowing.

That doesn’t really help with writer’s block, I know, but my point–if I have one–is this: if all you have to write are weeds, write that. Some of them my end up being edible.

What a fantastic comment! I often don’t know what a weed is either and have to wait to see how it grows before I separate it from the other plants. There’s a great saying that weeds are just plants in the wrong place 😀

I find doing tasks like weeding and chores kind of free the mind, too. Something about doing repetitive tasks that put the mind at ease, making it possible for it to roam. That always happens to me, when I do dishes and stuff! Your garden looks amazing!

I always make comparisons. It’s one of my favorite things…connecting one passion to another. It’s amazing how it can almost always be done. We are all so connected in everything we do. Good post, Dianne!